A Tribute to Jenny & the Snow

Jenny, Christmas 1967 wearing a hat my mother knit for her

Growing up in Pennsylvania there were many occasions to pull out the family 4-seater toboggan & head for the hills at Valley Forge.

My very best friend in the whole world growing up was Jenny Byrnes. We met in grade school at Tarelton & soon became inseparable best friends. After grade school she was sent to an all girls private school & I went to public school. This didn't hamper our friendship at all......it just made the weekends that much more special!!!

Unless, we were in trouble for something we had done the weekend before, we were always at one or the other's house for the weekend. I liked going to Jenny's house cause she had 5 brothers & sisters & one of the brothers just happened to be 2 years older.......Phillip. Ah yes, Phillip..........

Anyway, one particular weekend when we were suppose to get together it snowed & it snowed big.... I remember snow drifts 3-4' deep. Our parents were not going to risk getting their cars stuck just so that Jenny & I could see each other, so we decided to walk. We lived roughly 3.5 miles apart & the plan was for us to leave our houses at the same time & we would meet somewhere in the middle. Once we met up we were going sledding, so I pulled the 4-seater toboggan behind me. We did meet up & we did go sledding.

If you've ever seen pictures of the Pennsylvania countryside, you know that there are beautiful rolling hills just perfect for "best friends" to go sledding on.

We walked on a ways looking for the perfect place to launch our sled.............we found it quickly!!!

It was the most wonderful untouched hill of snow with a perfect slope, not too steep & not too flat and it went on forever. So, we loaded up on the toboggan with me in the front & Jenny behind me. We were having the time of our lives, flying down that slippery slope just laughing & laughing when it abruptly came to a painful end. We had no way of knowing that there was a stone wall underneath all that beautiful snow with a drop off of about 5 feet. When the toboggan went over the wall it flipped nose first. I was burried in the snow with a toboggan on top of me and Jenny on top of the toboggan. I had the air knocked out of me for a few seconds & suffered a couple bruises, but other than that was okay. Jenny too had a few bruises but was otherwise alright.......thank God!

We decided not to do that again & as we were heading back towards the road & noticed a pond across the street that was frozen over. Well, we loved a good frozen pond to skate around on & headed towards it. It never occured to us that we might be on "Private Property" now or when we were sledding!!!

We walked out onto the ice in our boots & were sliding around when a man on a snow mobile came from out of nowhere. Apparently, we were on "Private Property" & it was his property!!! We were both expecting a tongue lashing & for our parents to be called, but quite the opposite happened!!!

This nice man told us we shouldn't be on the ice cause it could crack & we could go under, but that if we wanted, he would give us a ride on his snow mobile. We looked at each other, smiled & jumped on. This was a first for both of us & we were so excited. The man was wearing a very long knit hat that hung half way down his back. The hat came to a point & had a tassle on it. Jenny & I snickered about it & we took off slowly on the snow mobile. As the vehicle went faster, the tassle on the man's long ski cap slapped us in the face. This was sooooooooo hilarious to us, not to mention we were having the time of our lives flying through the snow that we laughed & laughed out loud. This was a perfect ending to our day & we had yet another "story" for our diaries.

Jenny & me, Tarelton School Christmas Program 1965